thomis, if you spray Round up you need one dedicated sprayer for that. One sprayer for your dormant oil, insecticides and fungicides. Usually insecticides and fungicides get mixed together anyhow. 2 gallon sprayer should do 12 dwarf trees. I'd buy the best one so not to have to handle insecticide leaks or clogs later on.

One. The only time I use another sprayer is for herbicides. to prevent any chance of killing my plants with residue.

I know you ain't buyin' no backpack sprayer, but you should know that I even prefer my backpack when I am doing 2 gals because it is so much easier to use and it saves time as well. The little guys you always have to stop and pump and one hand is always used holding the sprayer.

Scott

Thomis:

Agree with Scott. Since I bought my first backpack sprayer about 15 years ago, I never use the carry-around pump-up sprayers for anything. The continuous, lever-action pumping is a tremendous advantage. You don't have to spend over $100 for a 4-gallon SP; a 3-gallon Solo backpack is fine, works about as well, and will last years more than a piston pump hand sprayer whose only advantage is lower initial cost.

I use one backpack for herbicides, and one for everything else.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

OK, you guys talked me into it. I am now looking at backpack sprayers. I was trying to keep my budget down but your long term arguments win, hands down. So I have one vote for the "Solo" model. Any others? I like the price of the Solo, its just about right.

Its kinda funny, when the wife saw the progress of the orchard and the real estate agent said it could add $20k to property value when mature, she stopped questioning any orchard-related expenses.

Here is a link that might be useful: Is this the solo you have Jellyman??

Thomis:

That's the one I have. Mine does not actually hold 4 gallons, and I suspect that one does not either. More like 3 which is fine. I also have an SP2 that does hold 4 gallons, but is considerably more expensive. You won't need more than 3 to do your little orchard.

Keep the little screen behind the spray head clean. If it begins to clog up it can affect the spray pattern. An old toothbrush works well.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Solo sprayers have either a piston or diaphram pump. Piston pump is not recommended for wettable powder and other possibly abrasive materials. How important is this? Would a piston pump be better if you don't plan to apply any abrasive sprays?

The Fruitnut

The only solo sprayers I have found comes in piston pump. Is ferbam in liquid or wettable powder form?

Forget the last post, I found the "Solo" sprayer with the diaphram pump. I'm glad you mentioned the wettable powders not being good for the piston sprayers, fruitnut. I almost clicked the checkout button.

thomis:

I'm getting one as well. Guess I'll get the diaphram unless someone tells me otherwise.

The Fruitnut

scottsmith:

i'd like to see a recent picture of your yard full of trees! how long ago was that panaramic photo taken?

Thomis, that picture was from summer 2007 I think. It doesn't look hugely different now, just everything is a bit bigger. I have been wanting to take some pictures more close up to post so people could see how I have been pruning my closely-spaced trees; hopefully I will manage to do that this winter sometime.

Scott

I ended up buying a Stanley backpack sprayer off Amazon for $60. Don't even know if it is piston or diaphram. But I don't use wettable powders very much. Have another sprayer I can use for that if needed. Bought the Stanley because it got better ratings than the Solo. People said the Solo were impossible to repair, too complicted and too hard to take apart. No one would do it for them and they couldn't get it done themselves. But maybe they don't need repairs very often.

The Fruitnut

Just an alternative idea- try one of those cheap plastic hose-end sprayers. No pumping, no heavy lifting, you can reach the top of 20' trees with ease. Of course, liquid concentrates are less trouble than powders with any kind of sprayer.

No herbicide in a sprayer you use for anything else, IMO.

I use a 1 quart spot sprayer to spray growing tips for control of OFM, aphids, and leafhoppers. I can spray up to 100 small trees with a quart.

I believe that leafhoppers are largely responsible for my graft failures. The scion wood sends out tender growth after the rest of the tree has hardened off and leafhoppers suck the life out of the emerging shoots.

I intend to do most of my grafting at bud swell in the future to try to get the grafts growing sooner.

How does one keep the mix agitated in a backpack model, shake yer bootie intermittently while spraying, on a ladder? There are slightly more expensive models that include an agitator, wonder if they are worth it. At least one of my sprays says to keep the mix agitated while spraying.